Michael Dolce, Lauren Book Attorney prominently featured on lauren's Kids, allegedly amassed 1997 images of CP

In 2017, Michael Dolce was nominated for a Shiitake Award for writing a nasty Op-Ed claiming restorative justice encourages those on the registry to reoffend. He was also FL State Senator Lauren Book's attorney and is prominently featured on Lauren's Kids!

Dolce stated in that article, "As a victim of childhood sexual abuse myself and an attorney who now represents sexual assault survivors every day, I can say without doubt that restorative justice is not only horribly insufficient for handling sexual abuse but, in many cases, actually serves to leave an offender free to offend again...

According to prominent forensic psychology researchers Drs. Daryl Kroner and Adelle Forth, about half of convicted sex offenders exhibit psychopathology, meaning they are incapable of feeling remorse or empathizing with their victims. Sex offenders are often skilled at manipulating others into believing they are safe, which helps them gain their victims’ trust before attacking...

The reality is that I believe the majority of sex offenders are largely incapable of empathy. Two-thirds of male sex offenders will re-offend if they are not treated and restrained as criminals. The consensus among mental health and criminal justice professionals is that most sex criminals cannot be reformed; they can only be monitored, controlled and contained."

And now Michael Dolce sits accused of amassing a large collection of CP. So apparently, he was projecting his own isssues onto others and describing himself in that 2017 OpEd. 

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/sex-crime-victims-advocate-accused-of-amassing-child-porn-16666611

Sex-Crime Victims' Advocate, Attorney Accused of Amassing Lewd Child Photos

IZZY KAPNICK MARCH 31, 2023 7:55AM

On the evening of March 15, FBI agents smashed open the door to the home of Michael Dolce, a West Palm Beach lawyer who had advocated for and represented sexual abuse survivors for the past 20 years. Armed with three warrants, the agents did not have to search long to find what they were looking for.

"They discovered Dolce actively downloading child pornography using peer-2-peer software," the Department of Justice alleges.

A longtime Sunday school teacher who was once one of the state's most prominent advocates for reforming sexual abuse statutes, Dolce is behind bars awaiting his arraignment, scheduled for mid-April. He's facing a child porn possession charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Dolce's onetime coworkers at Cohen Milstein in Palm Beach County are beside themselves trying to square how one of the firm's ace litigators in sexual abuse cases could wind up charged with a sexual offense. Dolce, who said he was a survivor of child molestation, built a reputation for handling high-stakes lawsuits and taking an uncompromising stance not only on sexual offenders but on those who enable them.

A partner at the firm, Dolce had been working at Cohen Milstein since 2015. He was fired two days after the raid on his home.

“The firm is stunned and saddened by these appalling allegations. Michael Dolce was terminated and is no longer affiliated with the firm. We are focused on attending to the needs of our clients and staff, and continuing to cooperate fully with the investigation," Cohen Milstein said in a statement.

At a March 30 hearing, Dolce agreed to submit to pretrial detention while reserving his right to later challenge it. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment from New Times.

"Commitment of a Survivor"

Dolce's early advocacy dated back to his work lobbying for HB 525, a bill passed in 2010 to remove the statute of limitations for criminal and civil cases arising from the sexual abuse of victims under the age of 16.

Between 2004 and 2010, Dolce repeatedly testified before Florida legislators in support of the measure, noting that abuse survivors are often too scared or ashamed to come forward right away. He said he was molested by a neighbor as a seven-year-old boy and that by the time he mustered the courage to speak out about it years later, he could not pursue a claim because the statute of limitations had passed.

His push for legislative reform faced opposition from the Catholic church and criminal defense lawyers' associations, among others, who argued that litigating decades-old molestation claims would be unfair.

"The law was protecting the predators. They were encouraged under the law to silence their victims, to threaten them," he said in an interview in the aftermath of the bill's passage. "It was an amazing day [when the bill passed]. I wept with joy. I was overwhelmed by relief."

Dolce received his law degree in 1994 from Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida, according to his professional profile.

He claimed in a 2009 interview that he had been teaching Sunday school for 14 years. He also alluded to a nearly five-year stint working in the state legislature, saying it helped familiarize him with the lobbying and bill-writing process. 

According to his professional profile, he formed Dolce & Paruas in 2012 and worked there until 2015, when he jumped to Cohen Milstein, a large firm with a half-dozen offices spread across the country and more than 100 lawyers in its stable. By the time he joined the firm, he had already garnered a reputation for pursuing high-stakes litigation involving sex abuse claims.

During his tenure at Cohen Milstein, he reportedly secured large settlements for his clients including a $4.6 million deal in 2019 on behalf of an adult plaintiff, who alleged that his father had sexually abused him throughout his childhood.

Dolce worked out of an office in Palm Beach Gardens, in a stretch of property sandwiched between Singer Island and a beach-side golf course community near Juno Beach.

His professional profile said he "brings to his work the insight and commitment of a survivor, having himself been the victim of sexual abuse as a young boy at the hands of a sadistic predator."

“We fight a fight that can often lead to a disappointing end, but we still have to fight it because what happened to our clients cannot be allowed to continue,” Dolce said in a 2020 trade magazine interview.

The Bust

Dolce, 53, was alone in his West Palm Beach home when the FBI came knocking.

Agents had surveillance teams in place to monitor him prior to the raid.

"Entry into the residence occurred as a result of a forceful breach on the door when Dolce did not respond to commands by law enforcement to come to the door. Tactical surveillance and entry teams revealed that Dolce was alone in the residence, awake on a bed at the time FBI personnel first knocked," the FBI says.

On Dolce's Samsung laptop, folders were open containing multiple illicit images, the FBI says. One subfolder was titled "Sweet Pedo Stars" and contained images of a prepubescent girl between the age of 9 and 11, according to the affidavit.

As of March 24, the FBI says, agents had located at least 1,997 child porn images on the computer.

Court records show Dolce litigated no less than 15 civil cases in Florida in the last 7 years, most of which were related to claims of sexual abuse.

One of the last pieces of litigation he filed involved a client who alleged that she was coerced into a threesome while drunk and tripping on magic mushrooms at a house party in Miami. Two weeks ago, opposing counsel noticed Dolce's disappearance from the case but did not learn the reason for it until Dolce's arrest came to light March 29.

https://laurenskids.org/advocacy-in-action-fighting-for-justice/

Advocacy In Action: Fighting For Justice

JANUARY 3, 2015 | POSTED BY: LAUREN | CATEGORY:BLOGFEATUREDNEWS & BLOG

There are so many abuse survivors and advocates around the world who have turned their darkest moments into their brightest light, shining the way for others. Children and adults alike are changing the world through their dedication to spreading awareness and promoting healing for survivors. Our “Advocacy in Action” series features people who have been inspired by Lauren’s Kids and impacted by Lauren’s advocacy, and have carried the spark she lit forward into their own lives and communities. We hope you enjoy reading their stories…

Advocacy in Action: Fighting For Justice 

Michael Dolce

In 2002, young Lauren Book sat in a Broward County courtroom and revealed the horrors she endured at the hands of her live-in nanny for the past six years of her childhood. She took heart knowing her lawyer, Michael Dolce, not only believed her, but understood her plight all too well.

When Michael was seven years old, he, too, was a victim of child sexual abuse at the hands of someone he knew and trusted: his neighbor, a man his family thought they could trust to watch over Michael.

After years of healing, Michael turned his pain into power. Because the statute of limitations on his abuse had run out after Michael disclosed in his late 20s, he became an advocate for victims of sexual violence. He continues to work to help other survivors bring their abusers to justice – something he was never able to do.

In 2010 during Lauren’s inaugural Walk in My Shoes walk across Florida, Michael stood up for survivors as he walked alongside Lauren and her lawyer/lobbyist father, Ron Book. Together they advocated for the passage of a law to effectively end the three-year statute of limitations on sex crimes committed against minors, allowing victims like himself to bring their abusers to justice years after the abuse occurred.

“There is no statute of limitations, no set time limit on the suffering of a victim of sexual abuse,” says Michael. “There should not be a time limit set on their ability to seek justice and get closure.”

Following the Walk, Lauren and Michael applauded lawmakers and state leaders as Gov. Charlie Christ signed HB 525 into law, officially eliminating the statute of limitations on sex crimes committed on victims between the ages of 12 and 16 in Florida.

Today, Michael represents sex abuse survivors throughout Florida from his Ft. Lauderdale law office, bringing perpetrators and those who protect them to justice, and helping survivors heal.

Lauren Book's paranoia about a silly kid's movie once again proves she is just too unstable to be a state senator

Lauren Book has been reduced to reading silly conspiracy theories online. Next, she'll be claiming PizzaGate is a real thing.

http://orlando-rising.com/lauren-book-controversial-show-dogs-sends-disturbing-message-kids-skip-box-office

Lauren Book: Controversial ‘Show Dogs’ sends disturbing message to kids — skip this at the box office
 Guest Author  05/22/2018  Latest Opinion, Opinions

Recent controversy surrounding the soon-to-be-released movie “Show Dogs” makes it clear that sexualized content — made worse under the guise of humor — has no place in children’s movies.

I am extremely alarmed by reports that a character in the movie was instructed to essentially tolerate having their private parts touched, sending a disturbing message to young moviegoers.

Bloggers who attended an advance screening rightly called out Hollywood for the inappropriate content in a movie targeting children. [Editor's note: Read-- Paranoid soccer moms who listen to braindead idiots like Lauren Book]

Show Dogs is about a police dog who goes undercover in a dog show to find a missing panda. Variety describes it as “’Miss Congeniality’ for dogs,” where the hero prepares to compete in a dog show by learning how to prance, show, and even stay completely still while his private parts are being inspected and touched — something he is alarmed about and does not wish to do.

The trainer explains this a natural part of showing dogs (and it is) and to go against his instincts by finding a “Zen place” as a distraction from the groping.

This has no place in a movie for children and parents should avoid taking their child to see it unless the scene is removed before its Friday release.

As parents, we know the influence media has on children. Our kids pick up behaviors and understandings from movies, YouTube videos and TV shows. Their minds constantly absorb the content with little to no understanding of the context. [Editor's note: This same principle applies to adults who blindly listen to people like Lauren Book and her ilk.]

In this case, it’s OK if someone touches your private parts because it’s part of the “show” and it’s just silly fun.

But it’s actually called grooming and is a frequent tactic used by predators to keep victims quiet, questioning their fear.

Child sexual abuse is a trauma experienced by an estimated 42 million people in the U.S. and the number grows daily. [Editor's Note: These estimates came from feminist sources from the late 1970s and are of questionable integrity]

One in three girls and one in five boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18, and 90 percent of these cases will be committed by a person the child — and their parents — know, love and trust.

Bravo to these self-described mama bear bloggers for sounding the alarm. From one mama to another, thank you.

I myself have not seen Show Dogs, but have read multiple reviews that clearly state this content in the movie.

Show Dogs releases Friday — don’t go.

If you were thinking about it, wait for additional information after opening weekend and make an educated decision about what is best for your children and family to help them stay safe. And if you do choose to take your children, use the opportunity to have a real and important conversation about listening to your guiding voice and speaking up when a touch or situation doesn’t feel right.

Reinforce that it’s ALWAYS OK to tell and seek help from a trusted adult.

Your kids have a voice — teach them to use it.

I know the Book Crime Family reads this blog religiously, so I'll just leave this here (Trigger warning, if you're a pansy, don't click the link. Pansy.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTb_MWZGHMk

GEO Group, one of Lauren Book's biggest PAC contributors, physically and sexually abused kids

Lauren Book took $50,000 from a group that allowed
juveniles to be sexually abused

We have recently reported that Lauren Book received $50,000 from GEO Group, the private prion industry, under her "Leadership for Broward" PAC. It is ironic that Lauren Book, whose entire political campaign platform is her desire to protect kids from sexual abuse while taking money from a private prison that allowed one of the worst cases of rampant physical and sexual abuse of juveniles in the history of the criminal justice system to occur under it's watch. 

GEO Group has been the subject of a lot of controversy over the years, but the Walnut Grove MS facility stands out among all of them. 

Lauren Book doesn't seem to care where the money for her campaign is coming from. There's a word for that-- HYPOCRISY!

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/24/151276620/firm-leaves-miss-after-its-prison-is-called-cesspool

Miss. Prison Operator Out; Facility Called A 'Cesspool'
Updated April 30, 20128:06 PM ET
Published April 24, 20124:15 PM ET

One month after a federal court ordered sweeping changes at a troubled juvenile prison in rural Mississippi, the private company managing the prison is out. A report by the Justice Department describes "systemic, egregious and dangerous practices" at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility.

As those words imply, the official report is scathing.

Federal Judge Carlton Reeves wrote that the youth prison "has allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate, the sum of which places the offenders at substantial ongoing risk."

Walnut Grove, located an hour's drive east of Jackson, is a 1,450-bed prison that houses inmates ages 13 to 22 who are minors convicted as adults. It is run by GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla., the nation's second-largest for-profit prison corporation, which posted a profit of $284 million last year. The Mississippi Department of Corrections pays GEO to manage the prison.

Jonathan Smith is chief of special litigation in the civil rights section at the Justice Department, which spent two years looking into conditions at Walnut Grove.

"To have a prison that's chaotic, poorly run, dangerous, didn't provide services, highly sexualized and highly violent really limits the ability of the state to turn those folks around, and to ensure public safety upon their release from prison," Smith said.

Among the conditions described in the report released last month:

• Prison staff had sex with incarcerated youth, which investigators called "among the worst that we've seen in any facility anywhere in the nation."
• Poorly trained guards brutally beat youth and used excessive pepper spray as a first response.
• The prison showed "deliberate indifference" to prisoners possessing homemade knives, which were used in gang fights and inmate rapes.
• Some guards had gang affiliations — a finding confirmed to NPR last year by former inmate Justin Bowling.
• "A lot of times, the guards are in the same gang," Bowling said. "If an inmate wanted something done, they got it. If they wanted a cell popped open to handle some business about some fighting or something like that, it just pretty much happened."

A GEO spokesman said via email that the abuses documented by the government occurred before GEO took over Walnut Grove in late 2010. Another private prison company, Cornell Companies, ran the Walnut Grove facility until Cornell was purchased by GEO.

GEO Group also ran the correctional center when the Walnut Grove mayor used one of the inmates as his personal sex toy:

https://www.fbi.gov/jackson/press-releases/2012/former-mayor-of-walnut-grove-sentenced-for-federal-witness-tampering

JACKSON—William Grady Sims, 61, former mayor of Walnut Grove, Mississippi, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to serve seven months in prison followed by six months of home confinement and two years of supervised release for federal witness tampering, U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen announced. Sims pled guilty to the charge on February 14, 2012.

Sims was the mayor of the town of Walnut Grove, Mississippi, having been elected to this position since 1981. In this role, he was one of the longest continually serving mayors in Mississippi, having served over 30 years. In October 2009, Sims became the administrator or warden of the Walnut Grove Transition Center in Walnut Grove. At the time, the Transition Center was a privately-owned and operated facility which had contracted with the Mississippi Department of Corrections to house state inmates. In November 2009, the Sims rented a motel room in Carthage, Mississippi; drove a female inmate in his custody from the Walnut Grove Transition Center to the motel room; and proceeded to have sex with her. During a federal grand jury investigation of the sexual encounter, Sims was recorded during several telephone calls with the female inmate instructing the inmate to lie to investigators by saying they had never had sex and had never been together in that motel room. Sims was subsequently interviewed by the FBI, and he admitted to having sex with the female inmate and instructing her to lie to investigators about their sexual encounter. Sims resigned as administrator or warden of the Walnut Grove Transition Facility in January 2010.

GEO Group also ran a juvenile facility in Texas that was run about as well as a third world country.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2007-10-26/554296/

The removal and firings came a week after two separate investigations into Coke: one by TYC investigators ordered by acting Executive Director Dimitria Pope after receiving a series of worrying reports, and a separate one by independent ombudsman Will Har­rell. In his report, Harrell describes inhuman conditions. Insects infested the dorms, where children slept on mats on the floor, and sheets were visibly dirty. His worst criticism is reserved for the security dorm. Calling it "malodorous and dark," he notes that inmates were only let out to shower, with no exercise or recreation. Education was a crossword or math puzzle shoved through the slot in the door. Bad as these conditions were, three inmates had voluntarily self-referred themselves to the security dorm to avoid gangs. Threats of inmate-on-inmate violence caused the greatest "sense of fear and intimidation" Harrell had ever experienced. Understaffing, long seen as one of the pivotal problems with TYC, was still unresolved: 44 of the 105 staff positions were empty, and the facility was having trouble finding new recruits because of negative publicity about earlier scandals.

However, Harrell inspected the facility on Sept. 24, and while Hurley applauded his report's content, he was concerned that he did not receive a copy until after his office's own investigation was complete. "If I'm the ombudsman, and I'm out there, I'm not going to go away, write a report, and then not send it to the one person who can actually make changes."

According to Hurley, the most worrying fact is that the on-site quality-assurance monitors had given the facility a clean bill of health. In his report, Harrell singled them out for criticism, writing, "With so many Q/A's assigned to this single facility, more than my staff for the entire state, why do these problems persist?" While Coke was the only privately run secure facility, TYC has now launched a full investigation into all its contract services. "We thought we had good reports," Hurley said. "The people who were a part of this were longtime TYC employees, but at this point we have no confidence in reports we have seen."

An audit of the Texas facility found:

• “The GEO Group does not ensure that the youth are provided with a clean and orderly living environment.”
• “Cells were filthy, smelled of feces and urine, and were in need of paint.”
• “[T]here are serious problems with insects throughout the facility and grounds.”
• “Plumbing chases were not secure at the time of the inspection. Contraband and pests were found in these areas.”
• “Water leaks are numerous throughout the facility, creating an unsanitary and unsafe environment for all youth and staff.”
• “There is racial segregation [in] the dorms; Hispanics are not allowed to be cell mates with African Americans.”
• “Youth sprayed with [Oleoresin Capsicum] pepper spray are not routinely decontaminated.”

Children at the facility told the Commission:

• They have “not received church services in over two months.”
• They are “disciplined for speaking Spanish.”
• They “are sometimes not allowed to brush their teeth for days at a time.”
• They “had been forced to urinate or defecate in some container other than a toilet.”

GEO Group also hired Ron Book among their collection of lobbyists

http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/private-prisons-fight-back/66970

With bipartisan criminal-justice reform ramping up, which could drastically cut overall inmate populations, logic might suggest that the private-prison industry would be on its heels. It’s not. Because what does any good business do when its customer base shrinks? It widens its net, of course.

While state and federal prison statistics show a recent decline in the number of Americans who are behind bars, there are still roughly 5 million people under correctional supervision. Many more are in rehab and mental-health hospitals, while hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are shuffled through detention centers – potentially big markets for private facilities. So the correctional industry is diversifying. “The scope of how big this is hasn’t even been anywhere near made clear,” says Caroline Isaacs, who closely tracks the private-prison industry for the American Friends Service Committee, an advocacy group that opposes corrections privatization.

Though the services may be evolving, the concerns remain much the same. As with many for-profit entities, the top priority is the bottom line, which is often at odds with the purpose of community corrections. Rehabilitation – whether in a prison or half-way house – is not typically in the operator’s best interest, because that means fewer clients. As such, some private prisons have been found cutting corners on training and dangerously understaffed, even leading to riots. And you may remember the kids-for-cash scandal, where two Pennsylvania judges received kickbacks for sentencing juveniles to time behind bars.

But there’s still money to be made. In October, Corrections Corporation of America – the largest proprietor of the for-profit bunch – purchased Avalon, adding to its growing network of halfway houses. GEO Group, the second largest in this field, several years ago purchased BI, an electronic monitoring company, and is now moving into health care. Such companies are even targeting contracts in the purely mental-health sector. Opponents have dubbed the latter the “treatment-industrial complex.” Around 90 percent of incarcarees are eventually released; however, mental health hospitals have the potential for lifetime confinement. The fear, some say, is that we’ll simply start funneling people from prisons to alternative care institutions and surveillance programs that will perpetuate many of the same issues — and, in some cases, be even more harmful to those who end up stuck in a vicious cycle.

As in any competition for government contracts, lobbying plays a role in the industry’s flexibility and resilience. Official, on-the-books lobbying numbers have gone down across the board over the decades, though CCA hired 199 lobbyists in 32 states over the past decade, while GEO employed 72 lobbyists in 17 states, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. But many believe that lobbying activity has simply gone underground. Lee Drutman, a lobbying expert with New America and professor at John Hopkins University, says to tell the story of a $3 billion industry fighting for legislative survival, you have to look at the indirect ways it lobbies, from unlikely alliances to innovative media strategies.

CCA Director of Public Affairs Jonathan Burns points out the company has a longstanding corporate policy not to lobby for or against any policy that would determine the basis or duration of an individual’s incarceration or detention. Plain speak: The corporations are not supposed to influence the length of sentences or what counts as an offense punishable by prison. GEO, meanwhile, noted in a statement that it doesn’t advocate for or against any specific criminal-justice policy. Still, federal lobbying disclosure statements show that over the past decade the industry has spent almost $10 million on state persuasion efforts and close to $22 million lobbying Senate and House representatives, and it has contributed more than $3 million directly to candidates and PACs. “With the election coming, 2016 should be a very interesting year,” says Paul Ashton, a research associate at the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., which aims to reduce incarceration.

Yes, $3 million in contributions to candidates like Lauren Book and PACs like Leadership for Broward. The Books lobby for stricter sentencing, which means more business for the Boca Baton-based GEO Group. Also, GEO Care, GEO Group's health subsidiary, donated an extra $15,000 in addition to the $50,000 donated to Leadership for Broward.

The bottom line is Lauren's alleged concerns on preventing sexual abuse does not extend to juveniles behind bars.